Tickborne disease study is planned for Weston

A tickborne disease study is being conducted in Weston and 14 other Connecticut towns.

Weston is one of 15 towns in Fairfield and Litchfield counties where a three-year study of tickborne diseases will take place. About 500 residential properties are expected to be involved.

The Connecticut Emerging Infections Program, the Connecticut Department of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will investigate whether tickborne diseases can be prevented with the use of bait boxes, a rodent-targeted method of tick control.

According to the Emerging Infections Program at Yale University, the bait boxes hold bait attractive to mice and an insecticide effective against ticks. The bait attracts the mice living on and around residential property to the boxes. As the mouse moves through a box to get to the bait, it will pass under a small applicator wick containing a low-dose insecticide, fipronil.

Fipronil is the active ingredient in many of the popular topical flea and tick control products such as Frontline.

Households eligible to participate in the program must have three or more people living in a free-standing home with a yard between one-half and five acres.

Other towns where the program will be in place are Bethel, Bridgewater, Brookfield, Easton, Monroe, New Fairfield, New Milford, Newtown, Ridgefield, Roxbury, Trumbull, Westport, Wilton and Woodbury.